LIMITED TIME INCREASED BONUS 80,000 BONUS POINTS: CITI PREMIER® CARD // MINI REVIEW
Update January 2024: The limited time increased bonus has expired. The current sign up bonus is now 60k points. There are no affiliate or referral links for the Citi Premier in this post.
Citi Bank has its own flexible rewards program much like Chase does with Ultimate Rewards®. That means that points earned from certain Citi cards earn ThankYou® Points that can be transferred to multiple airlines and hotels or used to book travel through their portal. These flexible or transferable points are so valuable because of the many options you have when booking. The Citi Premier® Card currently has its best ever offer which makes it a contender for a 5/24 spot.
HERE’S WHAT I LOVE ABOUT THE CITI PREMIER CARD
Limited time bonus of 80,000 ThankYou points (the standard offer is 60k points)
Transfer to Choice hotels at 2:1 (so 80k points becomes 160K points)
Earns 3x points at supermarkets, gas stations and restaurants
THE OFFER
The Citi Premier® Card has a current increased offer of 80,000 bonus ThankYou® Points after you spend $4,000 in purchases within the first 3 months of account opening. This is the highest offer I have seen on this card and I'm not sure how long it will be around.
ANNUAL FEE: $95
The Citi Premier comes with a $100 hotel credit off a single hotel stay of $500 or more (I don’t really see this as a perk. I find that booking through the portal is usually much higher than booking direct)
HIGHLIGHTS/EARN RATES:
Earn 3x points at supermarkets, gas stations, restaurants and travel
Earn 1x points on all other purchases
No foreign transaction fees
Transfer points to your choice of 16 airlines including Qatar, Turkish Airlines Virgin and Flying Blue and to Choice and Wyndham hotels
HOW I WOULD USE:
BOOK FIVE FLIGHTS TO HAWAII: Just like the Capital One Venture X, Turkish Airlines is a transfer partner of the Citi Premier Card. Turkish Airlines is part of the Star Alliance which means you can transfer points to Turkish from Citi to book flights to anywhere in the U.S. including Hawaii on United Airlines (for much cheaper rates than United charges). Because the Turkish Airlines award chart is region based, you can book a flight to Hawaii(or anywhere in the U.S.) for just 7500 points each way. There is a little bit of work involved in finding award space and booking this redemption so this may not be the best use of points for beginners.
TRANSFER TO CHOICE HOTELS: Citi ThankYou points transfer to Choice at a rate of 2:1. That means that after you meet the minimum spend you’ll have at least 84K TY points. Transfer them to Choice hotels and you have 168k Choice Privilege points. That’s enough to book:
Five nights at the Cambria Hotel New York Chelsea
Almost ten nights at the Winter Park Mountain Lodge in Colorado
Five nights at the Ridgeline Hotel at Yellowstone National Park
The only downside to the Choice program is that you are only able to book Choice Hotels 100 days in advance so it’s hard to plan way in advance.
Use Choice points to stay in NYC over the holidays at the Cambria Hotel New York Chelsea
QATAR QSUITES: If you have dreams of flying international business class then one of the best seats to do it in is the Qatar Qsuites. You can book a one way flight from the U.S. to Doha (or Dubai, or the Maldives) for just 70,000 points by transferring points to Qatar Privilege Club. This is on my bucket list!
Transfer Citi ThankYou points to Qatar to book Qsuites for just 70,000 points one way!
BOOK UP TO FIVE ONE WAY FLIGHTS TO EUROPE: Remember the airline alliances we talked about on Instagram and how important they are? You can fly one way to Europe for just 15k miles (that’s half the cost of other carriers) in economy. The taxes and fees are higher (about $100 more than flying AA) but there’s a ton of award availability going into summer of 2023. Want to fly business class? I found flights for 60,000 miles each way. Once you find award availability on Air France, you can transfer points from your Citi account to Flying Blue and book.
VACATION HOME RENTALS: You can transfer Citi points to Wyndham to book rental homes through Vacasa. Award pricing is a fixed rate, so you can book a one bedroom for 15k points a night or rent a two bedroom for 30k points a night. Although Vacasa doesn’t have properties everywhere like VRBO, good deals are to be found. There are many one bedroom properties that fit 4-6 people. To qualify for this rate, keep in mind that the total cost for a one bedroom can not exceed $500 per night after taxes and fees, or $1,000 per night for a two bedroom. For just 15k points a night, that’s a great deal.
You can stay five nights at this Vacasa beachfront property with 75,000 Citi ThankYou points
DELTA ONE BUSINESS CLASS: This is where being familiar with airline alliances comes in handy. You can transfer 50k Citi TY points to Virgin Atlantic Flying Club to fly Delta One business class between the U.S. and Europe each way. That’s 10,000 less points than United and American. You can search for these flights on Virgin Atlantic. They do pass on fuel surcharges so expect fees to run high.
GOOD TO KNOW
Keep in mind that Citi has rules about how often you can receive a bonus and be approved for a card like the Chase 5/24 Rule. With Citi you cannot get the bonus on a card that earns ThankYou points if you have:
Received a bonus on a Citi Premier, Citi Prestige, Citi Rewards+ or Citi ThankYou Preferred in the past 24 months or
If you have closed any of the cards above in the past 24 months you are not eligible for the bonus (this is very important).
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Opinions expressed here are the author's alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, hotel, airline, or other entity. This content has not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of the entities included within the post
